Rating: 
Summary: Raymond is sorely missed
Review: This collection of stories I still read 15 years after reading it in the fall semester of college. The characters are salesmen, waitresses, heart surgeons, students, mill workers, and the unemployed. The settings are usually sparse, allowing the characters and their struggles to be front and center. Carver writes complex stories in simple sentences. One might think he is not working hard, except for the pause after reading the stories, a result of the epiphany or weight of sorrow at the conclusion. Four of the greatest stories written in the last century are in this collection: What we talk about when we talk about love, So much water so close to home, Cathedral, and a Small Good Thing. Compare him with Chekov, there was no other writer who could do what Carver did. He was able to dig deeply into the lives of his characters in a few pages with few words. Raymond, thank you. We miss you dearly. P.S. If you watched the movie Short Cuts by Robert Altman, it was loosely based, I mean loosely based, on Carver stories.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Contemporary Works of Fiction
Review: "Where I'm Calling From" is basically Raymond Carver's "Greatest Hits" book, with a touch of never-released material also. All his famous stories are in here, and the book will satisfy hardcore Carver fans, general short story enthusiasts, and anyone looking for accessable fiction. Carver writes in a very original style, using a candor and frankness that "tells it like it is." His stories are primarily case studies of blue collar Americans, whether they be dealing with love, loss, or the boredom of manual labor jobs. Carver himself was a rough-and-tough individual, preferring life in the Northwestern wilderness to the highbrow publishing epicenters of New York or Chicago.
Raymond Carver basically brought life back to the short story genre in the 1980s. It had slowly fallen out of popularity as Ernest Hemingway and John Cheever's careers faded. This book shows why the American public as well as scholars fell in love with Carver's literary voice. He had a true gift and understanding of the craft, and those who knew him said he was the best "people watcher" they had ever met. Raymond Carver remains one of the standards, idolized by thousands of aspiring writers and immitated (unfortunately) more often than not.
Rating:
Summary: Raymond is sorely missed
Review: This collection of stories I still read 15 years after reading it in the fall semester of college. The characters are salesmen, waitresses, heart surgeons, students, mill workers, and the unemployed. The settings are usually sparse, allowing the characters and their struggles to be front and center. Carver writes complex stories in simple sentences. One might think he is not working hard, except for the pause after reading the stories, a result of the epiphany or weight of sorrow at the conclusion. Four of the greatest stories written in the last century are in this collection: What we talk about when we talk about love, So much water so close to home, Cathedral, and a Small Good Thing. Compare him with Chekov, there was no other writer who could do what Carver did. He was able to dig deeply into the lives of his characters in a few pages with few words. Raymond, thank you. We miss you dearly. P.S. If you watched the movie Short Cuts by Robert Altman, it was loosely based, I mean loosely based, on Carver stories.
Rating:
Summary: Altered States in Short Stories
Review: I studied the cover story, "Where I'm Calling From," in Alexandra Johnson's Word Usage class at Harvard Continuing Ed. What I marvel at in this story is that it captures an altered state of consciousness, from alcohol, in a short story. Maxine Rodburg, a teacher of The Craft of Fiction, at Harvard says the protagonist cannot be on drugs, as this would not allow for free will and choice that has consequences that is required in a short story. I think it is untrue to believe that an item such as coffee, for instance, stops free choice and consequences. What I admire about Carver is that he writes from isolation after making bad choices when on alcohol. Rodburg says that rarely we get to read of a protagonist wanting to enter into a group, that mostly (as in Updike's A&P short story)the protagonist is trying to get out. Writing is about poor judgements mostly, on or off of drugs. Most writing about the living in the aftermath of poor judgement from substances is about entering in, the Calling From. The only exception to this entering in that I have seen in writing is in the case of self-reflective writing such as Russell Banks short story on being beautiful and hurting a beautiful person. The story stops before the real reflection on hurting, as it is still caught in the mirror of self-reflection.
Rating: 
Summary: A fruitless, frustrating read.
Review: There is nothing particularly special about Raymond Carver's characters. Without doubt that is what makes them so interesting. They are everyday people with everyday lives. They dislike their jobs and they fight with their wives, they drink beer and smoke cigarettes. At their core, they are a pretty accurate reflection of the average American. So what's so interesting about that? Well, nothing really. Except that Carver has the power to make these people real. And it's not through elaborate, flowery prose. None of that in these stories, thank you very much. Carver uses the minimum number of words and still creates fascinating human characters with deep emotions and complex idiosyncracies. His characters are raw and edgy. And Carver catches them at their best and at the worst. He seems to witness them when they think they are all alone and no one is watching. This is a fairly comprehensive collection of stories ranging through Carver's writing career. What impresses me most is that the stories are consistently good - even the early ones. And just when you think you have him figured out, he throws a curve ball at you, as with the last story in the collection titled "Errand." While the other 36 stories are set in present-day America and focus on anonymous characters, this one tells the final days of Russia's great playwright, Anton Chekhov, in the late 1800's. And while it is a dramatic departure from his typical style and substance, it still works remarkably well. It's almost as if he is teasing us with a glimpse of his depth and range.
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